Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Depress Anxiety. 2010 Dec;27(12):1087-94. doi: 10.1002/da.20762.
Adverse child environments are associated with the onset of mood and anxiety disorders in adulthood. The mechanisms underlying these life-course associations remain poorly understood. We investigate whether emotional reactivity to stress is a mechanism in the association between childhood environment characteristics and adult mood and anxiety disorders.
Data are from the Study of Adult Development, a longitudinal study of men (N = 268) followed for nearly seven decades beginning in late adolescence. Childhood social environment characteristics were assessed during home visits and interviews with respondents' parents at entry into the study. Stress reactivity was assessed during respondents' sophomore year of college via physician exam. Onset of mood and anxiety disorders in adulthood was ascertained by research psychiatrists who completed chart reviews of interview, questionnaire, and physical exam data collected during repeated assessments from age 20 to 70.
Respondents with better overall childhood environments and a greater number of environmental strengths were at lower odds of developing a mood or anxiety disorder in adulthood than respondents with more adverse childhood environments. Higher stress reactivity was observed among respondents from families with lower socio-economic status and with childhood environments characterized by greater conflict and adversity. Elevated stress reactivity, in turn, predicted the onset of adult mood and anxiety disorders.
Heightened emotional reactivity in early adulthood is associated with both adverse childhood environments and elevated risk for developing mood and anxiety disorders in adulthood. Emotional reactivity may be one mechanism linking childhood adversity to mood and anxiety disorders in adulthood.
不良的儿童环境与成年后患情绪和焦虑障碍有关。这些生命历程关联的潜在机制仍知之甚少。我们研究了情绪对压力的反应是否是儿童环境特征与成年情绪和焦虑障碍之间关联的一个机制。
数据来自成人发展研究，这是一项对男性（N=268）进行的纵向研究，从青春期后期开始，几乎持续了近 70 年。在研究开始时，通过家访和受访者父母的访谈评估了儿童社会环境特征。在受访者大二时，通过医生检查评估了压力反应。通过研究精神病学家确定成年期情绪和焦虑障碍的发病情况，研究精神病学家通过对从 20 岁到 70 岁期间反复评估收集的访谈、问卷和体检数据的图表回顾来完成。
与儿童环境较差的受访者相比，整体儿童环境较好且环境优势较多的受访者成年后患情绪或焦虑障碍的可能性较低。来自社会经济地位较低家庭和童年环境冲突和逆境较多的受访者表现出更高的压力反应性。反过来，较高的压力反应性预示着成年期情绪和焦虑障碍的发病。
成年早期情绪反应性增强与儿童时期的不良环境以及成年后患情绪和焦虑障碍的风险增加有关。情绪反应性可能是将儿童期逆境与成年期情绪和焦虑障碍联系起来的一个机制。
